Scooping machine



Jtme 16, 1931.

H. H. BQETTCHER sbooPINe MACHINE Filed Jan. 311' 1927 6 Sheets-Sheet J.-

n MM WM m m June 16, 1931. H. H. BOETTCHER 1,310,339

" SCOOPING MACHINE Filed Jan. 51, 1927 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 WMttozue June 16, 1931. H. H. BQOETTCHER SCOOPING MACHINE Filed Jan. 31, 1927 ,6 Sheets-Sheet 4 June 16, 1931. H. H. BOETTCHER 1,810,389

SCOOPING MACHINE Filed Jan. 31, 1927 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 gmenlfoz WIT/(E6655 HER/W) #5 u a raw? W? 22 D U ,2

' 7 fltmm June 16, 1931. H. HfBo ircHER scoorwa momma Filed Jan. 51, 1927 A 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 t an la ll I c Q 11b? 0 0 man: o o Em: W l o m o ik I H o a. m .1 o o IT o o fi||= HERMAN 1a. Bummer-1E3, or BLUE EARTH, MINmisorA SCOOIPING- MACHINE i Application filed. January 31, 1927-. SeriaLNm. 164,948.;

This invention relates to a scoopingmachine, and has for its primary object a con;

struction whereby articlesvsuch as beets'may be efiectively scooped from the ground irrespective of the characteristics of the soil or the relative positions of the beets upon the ground. This is an improvement of my Patent h:1,723,462, granted to me ,under date of.

August 6, 1929; a I I 1 An object ofttheinvention is the construction of mechanisms that can be rotated and shiftedwithout the necessity of stopping the operation of the machine as a whole.

Another object of theinvention is the provision of a novel. construction of scoop structure that'may be adjusted toward and away from, the ground to be properly positioned with relation 'to the articles to be scooped.

A further object ofmy invention is the novel construction of shiftable mechanism havingparts so arranged and designed that the scoop devices ofthe 'scoop construction may be shifted or. ad usted during the continuous operat on of thescoop construction.

Besides the above, my inventiongis -distinguished in the novel construction ofscooping mechanism and its relative arrangement with the elevators and'the tiltable frame so that articles such as beets may-be effectivelyv engaged, lifted and" conveyed to a wagon'or other form of vehicle. traveling with the machine. V a

A feature ofmy invention is the novel construction of shifter which, upon slight ad justment, simultaneously and properly shifts the relative position of the scoops so as to properly performtheir'operationsin accord ance with the characteristics of the ground or surface worked" upon;

With these and other objects in view, my

I invention willbe better understood f'romthe accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine; Figure 2 is atopplaniview Figure 3 is a rear elevation; Figure 4: is a sectional view; a I Figure 5 is a diagrammatic view illustrating aportionof the shifting mechanism;

modification of my invention; s

Again referring'to the drawings illustrating one of the many constructions of my invention, the numeral. 1 designates the frame of the machine mounted upon the wheels 2 to assume a downwardly inclining position to'have its forward ,end- 3 supported by the rollers 4 in a manner that the frame may be raised .or lowered or tilted for changing the relative position of the various mechanisms in a manner hereafter described, a

To accomplish this result in a simplified manner, the'rollers 4 are journaled in a fork 5 that is raised and lowered in the bearings 6 by the links 7' connected to the bell crank 8. This bell crank 8 is connected by a rod 9 to the control lever 10. My improved rotary scoop construction, indicated in its entirety 5 by the'numeral 11, is of an adjustable construction so as to be adjusted towardland away'fr'oin the ground independently of or in i 4 conjunctionwith the tiltable movement of the frame. Thus it will be understood'that the relative position ofthe scoop construction and the ground may be changed in either of two ways,namely by the raising or lowering of the frame through the medium of the] rollersd or by adjusting the scoop construction independently of the frame.

will be operated in unison with the movement of the wheels. This drum '12 has secured thereto a plurality of devices whereby artie cles such as beets maybe scooped from the ground to be deposited in apredetermined position and then discharged into suitable conveying mechanism, and one manner of accomplishing this desired result is illustrated in the drawings as consisting of a plurality of trays 16 secured to the drum 12 to extend radially therefrom and illustrated as formed from a plurality of bars 17. the inner ends of which are riveted to the drum, as illustrated at 18, and the outer ends formed into bearings 19 for the purpose of supporting the shaft 20 for rotation.

To complete the tray, I provide the end plates 21.

is adapted to travel my'improved construction of scoops now to be described. The scoops 23 each consists of a tine 24 fixed to its associated shaft 20 to project radially or laterally from the shaft so as to travel in a circular direction to engage an article and depositthc same onto the tray in the passagev of the tine through its associated slot. As

' juster 27 includes a shifter 28 illustrated in the form of a ring 29 having formed solid therewith all of the projections 26 so that upon shifting or movement of the ring 29, all of the shafts will be simultaneously adjusted m for adjusting the tines secured thereto to change the relation of the active tines passing over the groundfor engagement with the beets or other articles. In other words, the adjuster is constructed to shift all of the tines to have the proper relative position in passing into engagement with the article.

Particular attention iscalled to the fact that the ring 29 is eccentrically arranged with relation to the drum so that upon rotary movement of the drum the ring will control movement of the tine to the extent of forcing the tines to travel in their individual circular paths in the proper timed relation to engage and pick up an article and deposit the same onto its associated tray to be dropped onto conveying mechanism hereafter described. That is to say, as the tines are travcling upwardly in a clockwise direction they I will support the articles in their movement toward the tray so that in the downward movement of the tines in a clockwise directionthe tines will pass through the slots of the trays for leaving articles on the trays to be discharged onto the elevating mechanism.

For the purpose of accurately and positively adjusting the ring 29, I provide the This construction provides a tray I having a plurality of slots 22 through which rockable link 30 mounted on the main shaft 13 and provided with a plurality of arms 31 that form journals for the rollers 32 that directly engage the inner peripheral surfaces 33 of the ring. Thus the ring is provided with a bearing of a construction to bodily shift the ring relative to the drum for changing the angular position of the tines so as to properly pass over the ground and engage articles thereupon. This link 30 is shifted by the control rod 34 passing to the control lever35 on the frame.

Particular attention is called to the fact that the relative positions of the trays are such that they form therebetween troughs 36 of the proper capacity to receive and 'su port the articles in their travel, and for tffe purpose of properly supporting the articles so as not to interfere with the movement of the tines, the bars forming the tray may have associated therewith curved guards 37, as illustrated in Figure 9.

7 Associated with my improved rotary scoop construction is a novel arrangement of elevating mechanism so designed as to receive the articles in their gravitational movement fromthe trays and elevate the articles to a point to be discharged laterally from the machine into a wagon or other suitable vehicle. This mechanism in one of its forms consists of a delivering elevator 38 having one end portion 39 arranged contiguous to the rotary scoop construction and in close proximity tothe traveling trays so that, the articles on the trays may be discharged in a direction to gravitate onto the elevator 38 to travel upwardly and be deposited on the chute 40. The elevator 38 is driven directly on ofthe shaft 13 by the sprockets 41 and chain 42. The chute 40 conveys the articles by gravity onto a dump elevator 43 that is mounted to discharge laterally from the machine into a wagon 44 or other suitable form of vehi ers seat 49 positioned contiguous to the con-.

trol levers 10 and 35 and the ordinary pawl and ratchet support 50 for the levers.

lVith a machine designed and constructed as heretofore described and illustrated in the drawings, the operator is able to very efficiently scoop up various articles such as beets and other vegetables and pass the same in a direction to be deposited into a waiting wagon or other vehicle, thus not only reducin the time of such operation but accomplisliing the desired result'with a minimum expenditure of power. As the machine travels over the ground, the various drive connections will function to simultaneously operate the rotary scoop construction and elevators so that the operations may be continuous to provide a continuous flow of material into the waiting wagon. As myimproved rotary scoop construction rotates, the tines will be periodically positioned, as illustrated in Figure 6, to scoop under the article to deposit the same on top of the tines to be carried to a position where the tines are capable of depositing the articles onto the trays. Due to thechanges in the character. and formation. of the ground worked upon, it is a great advantage'to be able to adjust the tines in their relative 'movements over the ground so as to assume the proper position to engage the articles and that is the reason for designing control mechanism that may adjust the position or" the tineswhile the scoop construction is in operation. Upon movement of the rod34 by its control lever, the link will be shifted .for displacing the ring and thereby shift thejposition of the tines through their crank connection with the projections 26. p I

Of course, it will be understood that in the initial positioning of the mechanism the rollers 4: are adjusted for tilting the frame into its proper position and any finer adjustment is accomplished by shifting the rod 34.

Therefore, Iprovide two constructions foradjusting the position of the scoop construc tion relative to. the ground. As the articles are being ilfted by. the scoop construction,

, the trays will successively reach an inclined position to allow the articles to gravitate onto the elevators 38, which moves the articles to a positionto be deposited "into the chute :0 for passage onto the dumping elevator for final movement into the Wagon.

It is,ot course, to be understood that the scoop structure may be designed in various other manners than illustrated to be operated I I by my improved shitting mechanism and the shifting mechanism may be designed in various other manners to operate my improved scoop structure and, in fact, my improved rotary scoop construction may be arranged and conuectedto various other types of mechanism without depart-ing'from the spirit of the invention and, thereforal do not desire to be limited inrany manner except as set forth in the following claims.

1. A rotary scoop construction comprising a rotary support, a plurality of trays mounted on the support and projecting radially therefrom, a conveyor positioned to receive 7 articles from the trays, andmeans fo'rscooping up articles and depositingthe same onto the trays, said means passing through the trays to facilitate the depositing-of the articles on the trays. i

2. A rotary scoop construction comprising a rotary support, means for rotating the support,trays secured to and projecting radipassage thereover," said. means, including a ally from the support, scoopssecured tothe traysfor movement-toward and through the trays, and operating mechanism for the scoops.v 3. A rotary scoop construction comprising a rotary support,ineansfor rotating the support, trays secured to and projecting radially from a he support, scoops secured to the trays for swinging movements toward and through the trays, and means controlling theposition of the scoops relative tothe ground in; their manually "operated shifting member in permanentoperative connection with all of the scoopsjq e 5. A rotary scoop construction comprising operating mechanism including arotary support, slottedtrays securedfto the rotary sup port and projecting radially therefrom, and scooping mechanism including a plurality of scoops secured tolthe traystogather articles and then-passthrough' the slots to deposit the articles ,on the trays.

6.; Arotary scoop construction comprising a rotary support, .a plurality oftrays mount-' ed on the support and projecting radially therefrom, scoops for gathering and depositingarticles onthe trays, and/means for simultaneously shifting the positions of the scoops relative to the trays, the scoops being movable through the trays.

7. A rotary scoop constructioncomprising a rotary support, a pluralityof traysmountr ed oil-the support andprojecting radially therefrom, scoops for gathering and'depositing articles on the trays, and means for si mult'aneously shifting the positions of the scoops relative to the trays without disturbing the rotation of said drum said scoops being movable throughthe trays. r

8. In a machine of the character described,

a drum, a plurality of trays projecting radially fromthe drum to form troughs therebetween, tinesswingingly supported by the.

trays for movement through the same, and shiftable means connected to the tines to effect angular adjustment thereof relative to and rojecting radially from the drum, each consisting of a lurality of spaced bars, a shaft supported by the bars, tines secured to the shaft for passage between the bars, and means for operating the shaft.

11. In a scoop construction, a drum, a plurality of spaced bars projecting radially therefrom, tines secured to the bars for angular movementbetweenthe bars, and operating mechanism for simultaneously adjusting all ofthe tines as a unit.

12. In a scoop construction, a drum, bars secured to and extending radially therefrom andin spaced relation, scooping mechanism including tines mounted for angular movement between the bars, said bars having relative arrangement to provide troughs there- 7 between, and guards secured to and curving away from the associated bars.

13. In a scooping machine, a frame, a shaft journaled in the frame, means for driving the shaft, a drum secured to the shaft, a plurality of groups of relatively arranged bars secured to the drum in spaced relation, a shaft for each group of bars, a group of tines secured to each shaft for angular movement relative to and between the bars, a crank arm secured to each shaft, a single ring pivotally connected to all of the crank arms, a rockable link mounted onsaid shaft and carrying a plurality of rollers engaging and forming a support for the ring, and manually operated means for rocking the link and thereby displacing said ring.

In testnnon whereof I afiix my signature.

H RMAN H. BOETTCHER. 

